Mike Sullivan knows the anxiety around the New York Rangers‘ locker room is at an all-time high. Virtually no one is completely safe from the NHL trade deadline, and that causes players to get easily distracted by the rumor mill around the league.
The Rangers have a lot to decide about Trocheck as the sweepstakes get hot. Needless to say, the tension within Madison Square Garden could be cut with a knife. Moreover, reports suggest Sullivan and New York could lose a former first-round pick before the trade deadline, too.
However, the show must go on and games must be played. In that context, the Rangers hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets, and even though they lost 5-4 in overtime, Sullivan found a silver lining in his postgame takeaways.
“I admire our fight,” Mike Sullivan admitted during his postgame media availability, via NHL.com. “We stayed in it. We kept pushing. That’s what we talked about in between periods, just trying to build on each shift. It helps when you score on the first shift. It gives you some juice.”
Vincent Trocheck in what may have been his last game for the NY Rangers
Blue Jackets 5- 4 NY Rangers: Recap
In more ways than one, the 5-4 defeat in overtime to the Columbus Blue Jackets perfectly summarizes how the 2025-26 NHL season has gone for Mike Sullivan and the New York Rangers.
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The Rangers were—once again—found flat-footed to start the game. The visiting Blue Jackets took a commanding 4-0 lead into the second intermission, as jeers and boos rained down on the Blueshirts as they headed for the dressing room. Some fans headed for the exits with one full period left; others opted to stay, not because they held hope for their team, but because they wanted to get their money’s worth for the expensive tickets they paid for.
Who would’ve guessed the Rangers would score four unanswered to tie the game and take it to overtime? For those fans who stayed—driven by financial reasons—they got to watch free hockey. However, in a city like The Big Apple, its inhabitants should know nothing is truly free. Overtime only led to another heartbreak.
The silver lining for Sullivan’s Rangers
Still, while all the previous points hold truth, Sullivan found a silver lining. Amid the chaos, in which the Broadway Blueshirts are bracing for imminent moves before the trade deadline, New York showed some heart and clawed its way back to salvage a point. Right now, points are irrelevant for the Rangers—they are merely symbolic—but showing resilience and pushing back after a rough start is far more valuable than any win could be for them right now.
That was exactly what Sullivan took away from yet another defeat on home ice—that, and the fact Gabe Perreault had the best game of his young NHL career with a three-point outing (two goals and an assist). He nearly completed the hat trick to win the game in overtime, but his shot narrowly missed, and the ensuing counter-attack led to Columbus’ game-winner.
Home-ice struggles continue
New York’s last home win in regulation was on Nov. 24 against the St. Louis Blues. Since then, 99 days (as of March 3rd) have passed. With their next home game on March 5th, the Blueshirts will go over 100 days without a regulation victory at Madison Square Garden. In the City That Never Sleeps, that’s yet another reason for Sullivan and the Rangers to stay up late at night.
